Update: Seems the 80,000 figure was inaccurate. Dent tweeted that the the Wii U sold "way under" that number. 64,000 units or so is looking more likely.

It's uncommon to obtain official data from the NPD these days. The company does, however, tend to leave clues about the performance of hardware.

Case and point: NPD has confirmed that Wii U sales are up 40% over January. An initial figure suggested that the Wii U sold around 55,000 units in the US during the month. After a few math calculations, that would put the console at around 64,000 units at a minimum for February, with VentureBeat's Kevin Dent specifically listing an estimate of 80,000 units.

That's not exactly an encouraging stat for Nintendo, but it is a start - and sales have obviously seen a boost over February. With software finally starting to arrive in March - including LEGO City: Undercover, Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate, and Need for Speed: Most Wanted U - sales may pick up further.